Economy Cools Global Warming

This past week, Gov. Brewer issued an executive order removing Arizona’s pending participation in a regional cap-and-trade program.  This places Gov. Brewer among a growing list of lawmakers siding with the economy over questionable science.

If anything is in danger of extinction, it’s the global warming movement itself.  Faulty data was at the center of Al Gore’s hockey stick model, the East Anglia “Climategate” scandal and the IPCC’s report on the Himalayan glaciers.  The public is increasingly skeptical and much less willing to make financial sacrifices in the name of averting rising sea levels.

To illustrate this point, a January 2010 study by the Pew Research Center indicated that only 28 percent of adults now consider global warming a ‘top priority’.  This places the issue at the very bottom of the priority list.  Since 2007, concern for global warming has dropped by ten points.

Not surprisingly, the economy and jobs rank at the top of the list in the Pew study.  Eighty-three percent of adults surveyed consider the economy a top priority.  Since 2007, concern for the economy has increased by fifteen points.

It is no coincidence that concerns for global warming and the economy are moving in opposite directions in the Pew study.  When faced with the hard reality of a tough economy, the public is less susceptible to pie in the sky alarmism about environmental catastrophe.  Fewer people now buy into the theory that ‘going green’ will buoy employment and economic growth.

Last year, Spain’s San Juan Carlos University conducted a research study on investment in renewable energy and its effects on employment.  The report found that for each green job funded by the Spanish government, the economy lost 2.2 jobs elsewhere. 

The jobs haven’t been cheap either.  Since 2000, Spain has spent about $750,000 to create each green job and has provided government subsidies of about $1.3 million per wind industry job.

The point of the matter is that green jobs aren’t created without significant government support.  As a result, the government destroys jobs when it siphons money out of the economy to fund its pet projects.

Spain’s troubles give reason for concern on this side of the Atlantic.  President Obama, promising to create 5 million green jobs, often cited Spain as an example to follow.  If the Spanish experience is an indicator, the U.S. could end up with 11 million jobs lost elsewhere in its economy.

Renewable energy and green jobs can play a role in the economy but they should be created naturally by a free market system.  As we have seen elsewhere, the cost to proceed otherwise is far too high.

Photo Credit: First Solar